A Rising Sun
by GravityDefyingTrenchCoat
Summary: "Maneuvering his puppets hand with his tool, Kankuro missed and nicked his finger, blood began surfacing immediately. "Damn, I screwed up." Mentally referring to more than just his finger..." One-shot. Based off Naruto Shippuden ep. 182


More Kankuro Fanfic! Not that this is new, I've had it sitting around for a while and decided to throw my worries to the wind. Not much background is needed for this one except it will help if you've watched episode 182 of Naruto Shippuden called, 'Gaara's Bonds'. I wrote this immediately after watching it because, once again, I just got giddy because they put Kankuro in an episode... Even if it was filler! :)

So a lot of the dialogue is from that episode, please enjoy. The world needs more Kankuro fanfics so I'll post more.

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><p>Disclaimer: By this point, I don't know what I own anymore. Feel free to correct me if I say something out of line, wouldn't want the Japanese on my butt for copyright infringement.<p>

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><p><strong>A Rising Sun <strong>

Night air filtered through the open windows as Suna's sun began to fall over the horizon. After the sun hours, which tend to be unreasonably hot, the moon rose bringing with it bitter and frostbite ridden cold air. The inhabitants were already in the process of closing their windows and stifling the air they could in the houses and cranking their furnaces up as far as they could go. Suna's climate were very ridiculous to adjust to at times but were not overall unsatisfying to the people if they worked to conform with it enough. But unlike the rest of the village, Kankuro could not stand the sometimes unbearably cold weather.

Kankuro had always loved the dessert as his home and hadn't even been introduced to the idea of grass until his first outside missions. For years, Kankuro had lived out of the heat and the sand surviving both ridiculously high climates even in darker wear. Yet, even having gone enough to live through millions of sand storms paired with the skin melting heat, Kankuro had adjusted and almost came to like the climate. But, even with every training mission and survival adaption mission given to him, he had never come to love or even tolerate the dessert after the sun went down.

It was horrible; first the sun began to hide behind the horizon, pocketing itself behind far off sand dunes. Than as the light begins to fade, the warmth and the heat goes with it leaving behind noting more than a memory of how the sun's warmth hit your skin over an hour or two ago. It was dreadful and particularly unpleasant, even falling asleep in the sand was hard considering the sun seems to take the heat from it as well when it snuggles itself into the distant sand dunes and falls asleep.

Over all the years, Kankuro had never been able to adapt like the rest of this city, but it made him wonder why he couldn't at times like now. And it also made him curse the fact he lived in the Kazekage's mansion. Don't get him wrong, Kankuro loved living in a large luxurious home with his family close at hand, but the climate control at night wasn't well taken care of… Basically, leaving the entire building just the same as an overly large igloo would feel to the sand-nin.

_I mean you think the Kazekage would have the nicest climate controlled home in all of Suna… But no, everyone just wants to see me freeze my friggin' butt off…_ Kankuro complained as his bare feet touched cold stone ground with each tentative foot falls. With each step closer to his room, his body seemed to get colder and colder as the Suna air circulated through open windows in the lowly light hallways. _Another thing the servant can't seem to get motivated enough to do… Close the friggin' windows! They better be glad Gaara isn't one to get sick or I'd-_ Kankuro's inner rant was cycled off as he heard close loud footfalls making their way off from down the hallway. Turning around, he didn't see anyone but it was beginning to get late and he already had wasted enough time from pilfering the kitchen because he had skipped out on dinner. He couldn't get distracted from working on this new puppet…

However, when it came to a certain sister of his, he never was one to get off the hook. A loud yell of, 'Kankuro!' sounded from down the hall as her stunning bright blue eyes caught sight of him as she rounded the corner.

"Crap..." He murmured as he saw his sister, still dressed up in her long black dress that were her work cloths, pursuing angrily after him. He managed to force his feet to dart to his room, regardless of the cold hard floor that had previously made his movements lethargic to. But much to his disappointment, Temari followed him into his room despite the fact he had slammed the door in his wake across the thresh hold.

"You do know there is a funny thing called _knocking _that some people do when they want to come into a room uninvited, right?" Kankuro questioned angrily as he sat down on a nearby stool under his work bench in his small alcove.

Temari didn't answer right away, her eyes scanning the room quickly. It had been a few years since she had stood in this room, but the puppet-nin was really clueless as to why she seemed to scan the room to every detail. He hardly ever moved or redecorated anything over the last few years. In fact, Kankuro hadn't really done anything to his room. The bed and its stand still faced the door like they used as it had been in their childhood. His dresser and walls were quite the same, neither having ever been painted since they had been done when he was seven years old. The only thing probably even remotely changed in the room was his small alcove, which at the moment had his current creation sprawled out on the table. Temari still stood as though she stood in a stranger's room, eyes darting in every plausible direction she could find, which began to make Kankuro a little peeved.

"Hello? Still with me?" Kankuro snapped, fidgeting on his stool slightly at having his previous comment ignored.

"Oh, don't get smart-assed with me you, moron!" She finally spoke her eyes finally snaking over to him as her red flushed lips formed her choleric words. Blue eyes slanted into slits as she held her fan in front of her like a walking stick, not uncommon for to do at all. Kankuro's own eyes lingered on it for a second nervously, he knew Temari would never use it inside but at the same time it made him nervous with the glares she was sending him…

"What do you want?" He asked simply, as he pulled himself down over his work know, pressing a nice sharp edged tool down into the decapitate arm of him new puppet. His gaze no longer met his sisters as he began to get wrapped up once again in the work that had already consumed his life for the last three days.

A low rather unearthly growl sounded from behind Kankuro's back, who was too preoccupied to see his fuming blond haired sister. "You fool! I haven't seen you in three whole _days_ and you dare ask me what_ I_ want?"

Kankuro continued to not look at her but rolled his eyes mentally, not daring to do it in the open in fear of her wrath. "Well, I assume since you were hunting me down to my room that you wanted something of me,_ jan_." He replied arrogantly yet at the same time wishing her to leave so he could continue with his work. Didn't she know he needed to finish this? The leaf village had just been detrimentally destroyed… There's could be next and she was deterring him from helping defend it with all his capabilities. Didn't she realize this?

Kankuro gave a glance at Temari with her first clenched in anger as she continued to glare daggers at him. He turned back to his work and prodded the arm twisted some more wires together_. Obviously not._ He thought promptly.

"Calm down, sis, before the whole city hears you. I've been working on something as of late and I need to hurry up and get it done quickly." He responded true fully without much emotion. It seemed to appease Temari though, seeing as her next words were of a much kinder and softer tone than before.

"What are you working on, anyway?" Her curiosity was obviously winning out over her irriitation. Kankuro was thankful, yet at the same time, he wasn't sure he felt like explaining his new puppet to Temari. How was he even going to tell either of his siblings about the Sasori puppet without thinking him insane? _Best to keep them both in the dark for now on that issue…._ Kankuro processed to himself.

"This project is quite a challenge. All the more reason why it'll become a good puppet once I fully master it." He stated simply, never looking up from his work as the hand twitched a little as he tightened a wire under his fingers.

"I wondered why you were copped up in here. New puppets?" She asked generally curious now at what had been consuming her brother's time this week.

"Yeah… It's a bit complicated to assemble." Kankuro spun around putting down his tool for a moment, sparring a moment since his sister seemed to be more sensible at the moment. To the sensible Temari, he could spare anytime in the world. His face scrunched up at a thought in her comment though and he barked back a last bit before quieting up again, "And I wasn't cooped up!"

Without warning, Gaara donned in his Kazekage robes, entered his room, obviously roused to his room by the previous noise level. The puppet-nin wasn't much surprised though, Gaara was as silent and secretive as death when it came to movement. Although, it still did annoy Kankuro ever so slightly at the sudden appearance. _Does no one knock anymore?_ He fumed to himself as he kept any sign of annoyance off his face. As a puppeteer, it was his job to not let senseless thing like that show through to the performance.

"Getting ready for war?" Gaara asked simply as he spotted the limp puppet hand sitting on the table. Kankuro looked away as a plethora amount of emotions began to spring up in his chest at the idea. In truth, he was on the beginning stages of war… The leaf was currently left in shambles at the moment; he wouldn't let that happen to his own city if he could help it. So pride for his city sat in his breathing cavity but something else also weighed down on his chest. And Kankuro knew what they were, fear and love. Fear for his city falling into shambles, fear for their leader to fall into the fate like the leaf's, and fear mostly for letting down his siblings once again like he had with Sasori. He had promised to improve his skills but Kankuro could not stand the idea of losing either of his siblings because of his failings. This idea always left him lingering on the feeling of love for them in his chest but the other two usually outweighed the last one as his mouth dried at the thought of losing loved ones.

His eyes moved to the side as Kankuro's chest felt like it might implode from the feelings swirling around like an angry monster trying to free itself. "Sort of…" Kankuro responded quietly as his brain started to play the 'what if' game with him. He forced the idea out his head but it always seemed easier when he was working on his puppet in attempt to remind himself if he worked harder he wouldn't fail this time. "You heard what happened to the leaf village. At this point, nothing would surprise me."

Gaara nodded in response as he stared at his two siblings. "The Leaf Village belongs to our alliance. We can't shrug it off as someone else's problem." Temari added responsibly, unmoving from where she stood adjacent to the door. Gaara remained in the doorway.

"Nope. And rebuilding a village that's been destroyed is no easy task." The puppet-nin also confirmed as he thought of the reports of the aftermath of the battle. It had been pretty serious, leaving almost all of the occupants of the village living in tents trying to figure out how they should go about rebuilding their city. The leaf village was defiantly a mess right now… Only going to show what the power of the Akatsuki can do…

"Above all, they must fill the void created by an absent Hokage." Temari also interjected as their minds all went to an image of a tall blonde haired with a very large chest.

Kankuro's eyes travelled to Gaara's face for a moment before lowering them to the floor. "You're right. From a political and psychological standpoint, being without their Hokage, their leader and pillar, has left them hurting badly." Kankuro couldn't imagine having the villages go without their Kazekage now. It had been bad enough during his abduction but he really couldn't imagine it at this moment with all the chaos going on. Besides the fact, he himself couldn't image his life going on without Gaara or Temari in it. The idea stung him and the pressure of failing once again weighed down further on his chest.

Maneuvering his puppets hand with his tool, Kankuro missed and nicked his finger, blood began welling up as he brought his finger to his mouth th staunch the blood. The feelings inside his chest and head were too strong to ignore. "Damn, I screwed up." Mentally referring to more than just his finger as the final clip of consciousness at fighting Sasori filled his mind, causing more anguish to his body. He hid his guilt well though and turned around fully for the first time, looking Gaara face to face now. "Do you think they can overcome the damage the Akatsuki caused without a Hokage, Gaara?"

It was a tough question but one he wanted his brother to answer for him. There was a simple moment of silence as Gaara took a need breath and responded quietly. "I don't know. But… the village has _him_."

The room went quiet for a moment. There was no need to ask who Gaara meant in that regards. Kankuro knew from the talk they had had almost three years ago. Temari knew as well from Gaara's constant appreciation to Naruto's actions. They both knew Gaara had a deep admiration for Naruto's role and part in his own village.

"But how can you be sure, Gaara? Sure Naruto defeated that Akatsuki member but how can he possibly get his whole-" Kankuro was cut off as Gaara continued on.

"He is strong and his actions of creating bonds have caused his whole village to be affected. If Naruto is helping them than I have no doubt that the village will pick itself back up even in these hard times…" Gaara paused as his eyes wandered for a moment in thought as he stared at nothing in particular. It almost seemed Gaara was recalling a memory of some sorts. But Kankuro did not dare ask his thoughts, not when Gaara seemed so motivated to share this night. Usually it took a lot of poking and prodding for him to open up, tonight was different for some reason.

"Starting with a small bond I, too, want to become someone who is needed. Instead of a weapon that is feared. And as the Kazekage of the Hidden Sand Village." The older siblings both stared; this was something Gaara usually kept un-vocalized but tonight he was doing just the opposite…

_I wonder how much he has been thinking about this…._ Kankuro wondered to himself as he stared gaping at his younger brother. He liked this though seeing as even though Gaara knew how much appreciated he still seemed to want to prove himself so much. Kankuro knew this and saw it all the time like when he over worked himself even in the smallest of area's like signing mission report papers. He could not even count the number of night he had had to go to Gaara's office and drag him to bed because he was still overlooking some kind of report. This sudden change in Gaara's words made Kankuro's happy, his brother had finally realized he was no longer what he used to be and no longer had to linger. This was a very new development which Kankuro hoped he had help bring on even in the slightest of way.

"You realized your dream." He smiled sadly as he held back foolish tears as he turned back to his puppet. His feelings of pride for Gaara were becoming rather strong and were attempting to sneak past the puppeteers mask. His joy and need to cry and express happiness had to be suppressed though as well as his need to mourn the fact he hadn't really helped his brother in any real significant way like Naruto had. "To forge a bond with your people in the village and be accepted by them, and to become the Kazekage." Kankuro wiped his eyes over fighting back any signs of emotion from his face as continued to prod and poke the puppets arm in front of him. Although, his work no longer distracted him completely.

"Naruto… He was the one who taught me to deepen my bond with my people. Thanks to him. I was able to regain my true self. That village has him. The one who cherishes a friend's bond more than anyone I know. Naruto Uzumaki… Knowing him and the friends he holds so dear they'll overcome this disaster and grow stronger from it." Gaara said emotion running strangely high in his voice. A wave of guilt and regret and even appreciation around the topic of Naruto caught in Kankuro's throat again but he held the emotions bottled in. He had failed to be a good Nii-san than and still continued too to a degree… But he refused to be one now and take away his brother's appreciation to someone who _hadn't_ failed him…

"They probably will… Those leaf's are un-relentlessly strong for who they are…" Kankuro responded quietly his thought going off to that kid in an orange jump suit who had helped reunite his family.

"They really are and the Sand will help them along the way as well." Temari smiled softly still remaining unmoving from her spot.

"Yep, and with a Kazekage like Gaara there is no excuse for those lazy leaf's not to get back on their feet." The middle sand siblings chalked up as he gritted through his regret and need to vocalize his fears. He would have to squash these ideas later though…

Gaara nodded in response. "Yes, Suna will do everything in its power to assist."

The other two nodded before Temari gave a loud yawn. "Well, it's getting late! I'm going to hit the hay!" She picked up her fan and slung it on her back but stopped before passing Gaara in the doorway and turned back to Kankuro. "Oh! And you better be there at breakfast _doll_ boy! I don't want you skipping anymore meals to work on that dumb puppet! Got it?" And with that the oldest sand sibling was gone from the lowly lit room leaving only Gaara in his white and light blue Kazekage robs with Kankuro sitting not too far off staring out the window.

Kankuro sat surprised when Gaara had not followed Temari out but said nothing not even attempting to fidget around with his puppet any longer.

"What are you thinking, Kankuro?" Gaara asked suddenly out of the blue making Kankuro subconsciously reel for a moment. He shrugged it off though a moment giving himself a moment to process.

"It's a lot warmer in here than it was before…" He mumbled as Gaara looked at him confused. Kankuro sighed.

"All this talk seems to have warmed the cool night. Or at least it does to me… Feel free to ignore the statement, you just asked me my thoughts…" Kankuro stumbled as he stopped looking out the nearby window, mentally hitting himself for saying such an uneeded comment.

It was true; the night seemed less cold than previously. He wasn't sure if it was because of his swirling emotions of pride, sadness, or grief or maybe even his thought on Gaara and Naruto helping lift the leaf out of its rut.

"It was never that cold Kankuro, it's just easier to imagine it is cold when one is alone or without general purpose. A goal tends to make one feel warmer or more important with a goal in mind. Or at least that's what I've encountered…" Gaara commented as he finally entered the room and sat on the edge of Kankuro's bed still staring at his older brother obviously not intent on leaving in the near future.

"That is true. Thanks for doing that for me, _ototo_. I think I sometime forget why I need to keep fighting." Kankuro responded slowly, keeping out his want to say, 'I will fight and possibly die for you' out of his phrases. Gaara nodded in the appreciation but said nothing more. "So… What else you want to talk about, Gaara? I know it's been a couple of days since we've really talked."

Gaara nodded once again, "It has."

Kankuro smiled at the curtness that was just Gaara being well… Gaara. "Alright, let's start with the normal than. How was your day?" Kankuro asked, smiling as he gave all his attention to his younger brother. And in a way the night air did feel warmer. Either because of his feelings of happiness at helping his sibling and knowing he was useful to Gaara even for a moment in time.

Although, Kankuro knew no matter how cold the night became there would always be a rising sun. His ability to help Gaara was the same and soon the leaf village would learn and understand this too in their darker time. Kankuro was done being a failure to his brother, that time of their life and phase of moon had passed; now it was time to welcome the sun and bask in it with his family once and for all.

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><p>Well, that's it. Another one-shot. Yep.<p>

If ya feel, please review. As usual, no flames, they will only be fed to Akamaru for my amusment. ;)

~GravityDefyingTrenchCoat~


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